song key

[vicarito]

I am currently having an issue that is directly related to my complete ignorance of music theory an I think this is way I can not do a decent voice (singing) track to a new song that I came up with. I have done 2 songs before where my singing (in spite of my bad voice) came out O.K. It is possible that this was only a lucky coincidence and the key that I sang in was the right one.
When you start a project in Mixcraft, it has C as the default key. I have never paid attention to that in I just start recording my tracks and at some point I add the voice track. My questions are the following:
If I had the C key as a default for the project, does it mean that I am supoused to sing in the key of C?
If my singing comes out dull(out of tune) and does not sound right, can I change the key of the project to try a different singing key?(even when all the instrument tracks have already been recorded)
Or you have to determine before starting the project what key are you going to use?(this would not make too much sense if your are creating a new song that you have no idea what key is it going to be in).

As you can see I am really lost in this area....maybe many of my previous assumptions are completely wrong and are really irrelevant....but I do not know..
I would really appreciate some guidance and advice......

thank you very much
vicarito

[freightgod]

I feel yer pain, said the also-musically-untrained monkey typing in the corner

I usually ignore the key setting completely Of course now I have something else to blame when I sing off-key as well

[outteh]

You can change they key of the song after you have recorded audio tracks or midi. You just need to make sure that the track is set to "adjust to project key" . Sometimes audio tracks don't behave very well with extreme key changes. You can also adjust your vocal audio track by adjusting the pitch of the track. Experiment and see what happens!

[vicarito]

thank you very much for your repplies....
vicarito

[Starship Krupa]

I am currently having an issue that is directly related to my complete ignorance of music theory an I think this is way I can not do a decent voice (singing) track to a new song that I came up with. I have done 2 songs before where my singing (in spite of my bad voice) came out O.K. It is possible that this was only a lucky coincidence and the key that I sang in was the right one.

Not a lucky coincidence, your ears heard the music you were singing along to and adjusted the notes your voice was singing so that they fit the key the song was in. Almost from birth, we hear Western music and get used to it, and learn its rules in this way, informally.

If I had the C key as a default for the project, does it mean that I am supoused to sing in the key of C?
If my singing comes out dull(out of tune) and does not sound right, can I change the key of the project to try a different singing key?(even when all the instrument tracks have already been recorded)
Or you have to determine before starting the project what key are you going to use?(this would not make too much sense if your are creating a new song that you have no idea what key is it going to be in).

The way it works (as I understand it, anyway, as I have never used it this way) is that if you know what key your song is in, set Mixcraft to that key. Then record whatever music you are going to record your vocals to. If you don't know the key, leave it set to C.

Now sing over the music, and see if you can get it right, or if some of the notes seem to high or too low for your range. If they do, then you can adjust the project key up or down to suit your vocal range, and Mixcraft will adjust the range of the already-recorded music to match.

(Mixcraft does not make any key adjustments until you start changing it, so it doesn't matter what you have the key set to initially if you do not change it during the course of a project, and I believe I have never changed it. I figure out if I can sing it before I record it, or go back and record it over if there is a problem)

If the problem you are running into is that you are hitting wrong notes within your vocal range, nothing wrong with that, you can get better just as with every other instrument, with practice, and in my experience, it didn't take very long. The fact that you have sung songs that do hit the right notes proves that you have the basic ability. Put the song on a loop and every day for a week keep trying the vocal track and before the end of that week you will probably have a great in-tune lead vocal, and what is more, you will be able to sing other songs in tune.

If you want to "cheat," there is a pitch correction plug-in that comes with Mixcraft called GSNap, and Meldaproduction have a free one called MAutopitch that I prefer. Mixcraft Pro Studio 8 includes Celemony Melodyne Essential, which is a very powerful tool for correcting off-pitch single notes.

[vicarito]

thank you very much for your latest repplies, all this really helps to move foward when you find your self stuck with a particular issue...
vicarito

[freightgod]

Great reply, Starship.

[Yeans]

As my ears aren't the best at picking up key I refer to https://getsongkey.com/mixing to get my tracks in place for my sets. I follow the Camelot number myself and have found the tool to be accurate. Do you use any specific key referent?